Tacitly Yours

Stepping to the music

It's almost spring. The trees are starting to bud, flowers are starting to push up and I am turning into an amateur choreographer.

Every spring, about this time I get on the internet, find my favorite music site and start downloading random songs. Songs I wouldn't usually be caught dead listening to for my own enjoyment. The reason is that I am a member of the Grandview Junior Miss committee and someone who raised her hand high when they needed someone to work with the "self-expression" or evening gown portion of the competition.

When I raised my little hand last year I knew exactly what I was getting into, but I was excited. It wasn't until I started listening to music for the production that I realized that an evening gown routine doesn't just create itself.

I will admit I have a little bit of dancing in my blood. I took dance lessons growing up and I was on the drill team and cheerleading squads in high school. But I quickly realized that it isn't the same thing. Shaking your pom-poms and kicking your legs is a little different from twirling around in a formal dress.

When I got together with my co-choreographer last year I remember we just stared at each other for awhile as we listened to the music trying to figure out how many eight-counts it could possibly take for 12 girls to walk across the stage. All I can say is we learned later that it takes a whole lot longer than you would think.

Lately I have been bobbing my head to more unusual music as I try to get ready for this year's program. This weekend anyone driving by my house might get a chance to see me looking like a four-year-old wearing her mother's high heels. I'm planning on putting on my highest heels, rolling up my jeans and attempting to see if any of the songs I've chosen are of a tempo that can easily be walked to. I know it sounds strange, but it is one of the quirky lessons I learned last year...you don't want anything too fast or too slow.

I'm also to the point where I wish I had kept my notes from last year's routine, because I once again need to remember just how long it takes a group of 17-year-olds to gracefully glide across the stage, or at least walk without making too much noise.

Anyway, as the program date looms closer and closer I plan on crossing my fingers and hoping that I can do it again. I wonder if it would be bad to recycle last year's routine with new music? Just kidding...the work has already begun.